Cyprus-Forum.com

[insan]

Cypriots mainly concerned about crime and prices

CYPRIOTS' main concerns are crime and higher prices – unlike their counterparts in the other EU member states where unemployment and economic situation top the list of problems.
The army and government enjoy the most trust, while political parties and large corporations are rock bottom in the confidence ladder.
And Cypriots have the least confidence in the police and the United Nations of all 25 member states.
These are some of the conclusions to emerge from the latest Eurobarometre report, conducted in spring and released earlier this week.
The poll was carried out during an emotionally-charged period of inward reflection for Greek-Cypriots – coming weeks before accession and during a frantic last push for a settlement to end the 30-year division.
The survey shows Cypriots see the EU from two central focal points – political and economical.
“From a political viewpoint, they have always expected that the European Union would contribute beneficially towards the solution of the Cyprus issue, while to the contrary, from an economic viewpoint many feared negative repercussions,” the report said.

Accession

And it added: “For Cypriots, more than anything else, accession into the European Union meant a solution to the Cyprus problem and the application of basic human rights on the island. The political axis has always preceded the economic one, and for this reason Cypriots in their majority supported the accession.”
These views are reflected in the answers. On one hand, life in the near future is expected to improve by the majority, while on the other, most Cypriots expect that the economic situation will deteriorate.
One third of Cypriot citizens is optimistic about the near future expecting that life will improve within the following 12 months. A quarter foresees life worsening, while the remaining (34%) expect it will remain unchanged.
The majority expect their future financial situation and their employment status to remain unchanged (42% and 52% respectively).
Cypriot citizens believe their personal situation will be much better than the general economic state of the country and the employment conditions in Cyprus.
This may be attributed to the fact that they are judging from their present conditions of life and the current relatively high standard of living and low unemployment levels.
Almost half state that in general their personal situation has improved within the past five years, whereas only 25% feels that it has deteriorated.
Asked to choose from a list of problems common among the member states, Cypriots singled out the crime rate (51%) and the increase of prices/ inflation (41%) to be the main ones.

Least trust

The trust that Cypriots place in most institutions is high, with the National Guard winning most confidence (83%), followed by the Government of Cyprus (75%) and the House of Representatives (74%). They least trust political parties (31%) and large corporations (29%).
Compared to other member states, the trust Cypriots have towards most institutions is relatively high.
Cypriots trust the Union, to a greater degree than the average of the EU as a whole. On the other hand, Cypriots show the least trust towards the United Nations among citizens of all member states.

Highlights from the report

HERE are some other highlights from the report:
Most Cypriots describe their knowledge regarding the EU as average.
On a ten-point scale, the mean is 4.5. This value is below the mid-point.
The actual knowledge on specific issues regarding the Union is also low.
– Asked as to which sources they turn to when seeking information about the EU, 16% of all Cypriots spontaneously state that they are not interested in information relating to the Union. This percentage is somewhat higher than both the average for all new member states (11%) and the average for all countries (10%). The major sources of information on issues relating to the EU are the mass media and most prominently, television (70%).
– Among EU institutions, Cypriots tend to trust most the Court of Justice of the European Communities (76%) and the European Parliament (55%). About half also trust the European Commission, the Council of Ministers of the EU, the European Ombudsman and the European Central Bank.
– A few months before enlargement 42% of Cypriot citizens consider Cyprus’ accession into the EU to be in general a good thing. The level of positive attitudes towards membership coincides exactly with the average of all new member states. More than one out of two (56%) believes Cyprus will benefit from being an EU member. Almost six out of 10 Cypriots expect that the benefits from accession will be positive. This places Cypriots’ expectations higher than the average of the new member states.

EMU backed

– The majority of Cypriots (65%) support a European Monetary Union with the euro as its common currency.
– Cypriots strongly support a common foreign policy (81%).
– Cypriots primarily associate accession with two issues – peace and the freedom to travel, work and study throughout Europe. Nevertheless, a significant percentage of the population associates the meaning of the EU with negative repercussions to the island as well. Of these, the most important ones are unemployment (47%) and the rising crime rate (47%).
Comparing to the total population of all member states, Cypriots associate the EU to a significantly higher degree with several positive elements such as “peace”, “democracy”, “social protection”, and “freedom to travel, work and study”. Nonetheless, they simultaneously associate the EU to a higher
extent with negative elements such as “higher crime rate”, “unemployment” and “loss of cultural identity”.
– Security and political stability are the greatest gains that Cypriots expect that they will receive once they have entered the EU. Cypriots appear a lot more optimistic and expect their country will play a more important role within the EU, than the citizens of the other new member states.
The majority of Cypriots view the EU as playing an important role in global issues, such as protection of the environment and the fight against crime and terrorism.
They also recognise the EU’s positive role in social issues such as health, education, public transportation and pensions. The scene is different in relation to economic issues where most Cypriots describe the role of the EU as being negative on the issue of the economic situation in general, as well as on other related issues such as rising prices/ inflation, taxation, the fight against unemployment and migration.

Social problems

In addition, Cypriots fear that the accession will lead to an increase of other social problems. These are mainly, increased drug-trafficking and international organised crime (81%). There are also intense fears relating to the economic situation, such as an economic crisis (68%), transfer of jobs abroad where labour is cheaper (60%) and more difficulties for farmers (62%).
Cypriots’ degree of fear is higher than the average for new member states concerning increased drug trafficking, international organised crime, the possibility of an economic crisis and the outflow of jobs abroad where production costs are lower.
There is also greater fear among Cypriots concerning cultural issues, such as the loss of national identity and the decreased usage of their mother tongue.
Having to identify themselves as either being only Cypriot, Cypriot and European, European and Cypriot, or only European, Cypriot citizens are almost equally split among those who consider themselves only as Cypriots (49%) and to those who consider themselves both as being Cypriots and Europeans (46%).

THE STUDY

THE Eurobarometer study was conducted in Cyprus between February 24 and March 9 by Cymar Market Research in association with the Gallup Organisation, Hungary. In total, 500 interviews were carried out. All interviews were face-to-face and were carried out in the place of residence of respondents. Eligible to participate in the study were males and females over 15 years old with Cyprus citizenship.





http://www.european-cyprus.net/english/ ... standalone

[insan]

Some questions for a better analysis of some parts of the report:

“For Cypriots, more than anything else, accession into the European Union meant a solution to the Cyprus problem and the application of basic human rights on the island. The political axis has always preceded the economic one, and for this reason Cypriots in their majority supported the accession.”

Compared to other member states, the trust Cypriots have towards most institutions is relatively high.
Cypriots trust the Union, to a greater degree than the average of the EU as a whole. On the other hand, Cypriots show the least trust towards the United Nations among citizens of all member states.

Could it be the main reason why majority of GCs voted no to the Annan Plan?

There is also greater fear among Cypriots concerning cultural issues, such as the loss of national identity and the decreased usage of their mother tongue.

I couldn't quite understand this part of the report. Which national identity loses?Cypriot or Hellenic? Which language GCs tend to speak rather than their mother tongue?

[brother]

An interesting survey which i read thoroughly, but overall i believe even in such a short time the general conception has already changed and as such if this survey was conducted again it would be quite different.

[Alexandros Lordos]

Cypriots trust the Union, to a greater degree than the average of the EU as a whole. On the other hand, Cypriots show the least trust towards the United Nations among citizens of all member states...

Could it be the main reason why majority of GCs voted no to the Annan Plan?

Insan, I think it is the other way round ... GCs lost trust in the UN because of the Annan Plan. Before the Annan Plan, everyone was pinning their hopes on the UN, afterwards, the name of the Secretary General became a swear word...

[pantelis]

Does this study include the opinions of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots?
If the Turkish Cypriots were not included in the study, would their answers be different? If "yes", different in what respect?

[insan]

Insan, I think it is the other way round ... GCs lost trust in the UN because of the Annan Plan. Before the Annan Plan, everyone was pinning their hopes on the UN, afterwards, the name of the Secretary General became a swear word...

In this case if there was one to blame because of the final version of the Annan Plan; that was T-Pap and his team in dream of "European Solution"; who didn't exert any effort to get the things which would satisfy the majority of GCs. Moreover, he was one of the GC leader who promised GCs lots of unrealistic, false hopes and misguided them towards high expectations such as return of all refugees, immediate withdrawal of all Turkish troops, no guarantorship of foreign powers, majority rule etc.


Actually the GC politicians should have been blamed by GC community, not UN or Annan or De Soto or even Turkey. But unfortunately majority of GCs were deluded by Hellenic ruling elite one more time after the referandum. Now majority of GCs consider that UN and Turkey is to blame.


THE Eurobarometer study was conducted in Cyprus between February 24 and March 9 by Cymar Market Research(Is it your company Alexandros?) in association with the Gallup Organisation.

It seems to me that the "European Solution" idea injected into the brains of Cypriots long before the final version of Annan Plan put forth for consideration.



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Quote From Report:
There is also greater fear among Cypriots concerning cultural issues, such as the loss of national identity and the decreased usage of their mother tongue.


I couldn't quite understand this part of the report. Which national identity loses?Cypriot or Hellenic? Which language GCs tend to speak rather than their mother tongue?


There's no Cypriots to expose me what this part of the report tells?

[Alexandros Lordos]

THE Eurobarometer study was conducted in Cyprus between February 24 and March 9 by Cymar Market Research(Is it your company Alexandros?) in association with the Gallup Organisation.

No, I don't own a research company ... I just co-operated with Cymar, like I co-operated with Kadem in the north, because there was no way I could have done two thousand interviews on my own.

[Alexandros Lordos]

I couldn't quite understand this part of the report. Which national identity loses?Cypriot or Hellenic? Which language GCs tend to speak rather than their mother tongue?

There's no Cypriots to expose me what this part of the report tells?

I think it is referring to the loss of Greek culture, both as a result of greater internationalisation and as a possible side-effect of reunification ... aroung the time when this poll was done, a lot of criticism was being heard about the post-solution abolition of the Cyprus flag, about the fact that it would not be permitted to have Greek flags in public buildings and so on ...

As to language, I think the fear is that English is beginning to take over, people nowadays speak a corrupt form of Greek with English mixed in.

[brother]

The same can be said for north alex.